Quorum Report Newsclips Fort Worth Star-Telegram - June 27, 2022

Suspect convicted of murder in Fort Worth police officer’s death

A Tarrant County jury on Monday found Timothy Huff guilty of capital murder in the 2018 shooting death of Fort Worth police Officer Garrett Hull. The man on trial did not shoot the officer, but in their closing arguments Monday, attorneys sought to prove whether he was still legally responsible for Hull’s death. Court resumed Monday afternoon for the penalty phase of the trial, to determine Huff’s sentence, which will continue with more testimony Tuesday and Wednesday. Huff faces a sentence of either the death penalty or life in prison. Huff was accused of capital murder for his involvement in Hull’s death in September 2018. Hull was one of a team of Fort Worth police officers tracking Huff and two other men suspected in a string of robberies targeting Hispanic-run businesses over the course of three months in 2018.

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Huff’s defense attorneys and prosecuting attorneys made closing arguments before a packed courtroom and an attentive jury in Tarrant County’s 396th District Court on Monday at 9 a.m. The judge dismissed the jury to begin deliberating at about 10:30 a.m. and jurors returned with the guilty verdict about an hour later. Three men were involved in the fateful robbery the night of Sept. 14, 2018, prosecutors said. Samuel Mayfield, Dacion Steptoe, and Huff went into Los Vaqueros bar and robbed the patrons inside, according to police testimony at the trial. Hull and other Fort Worth officers on the criminal intelligence unit had been tracking the group and were surveilling the bar. When they realized the bar was being robbed, they called in backup and got ready to track the men down as soon as they left the business. Huff, Steptoe and Mayfield fled from the bar and the officers began to chase them, according to testimony. Steptoe and Hull wound up in a driveway on May Street. Steptoe shot Hull, who died after being rushed to the hospital, authorities said. Another officer shot and killed Steptoe.

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